'R' as in Romeo

Chapter 1

Romeo Davis, this letter is to inform you of your drafting into the war. Please report to the nearest military base in your area by January 3rd 1942. Thank you for your service. God Bless. -The U.S Military

It was December 30th. The day that changed my life forever. The day I received the letter. All the men were gone, now they were drafting the women.

My name is Romeo Davis, I'm only 18 years old. Now, I'm a soldier. Well a soon to be soldier. I'm currently sitting on the train looking out the window. It's packed in here, all the women in this small space is making me uncomfortable. Some of them are crying, while some are silent. I just look out the window hoping that I'm going to wake up. This has to be a dream.

"We're five minutes away from base. When you get there you will report straight to your barracks. There are a pair of clothes as well as boots you must put on. You have a total of ten minutes before you report outside in the main courtyard where we will take you to receive your physical." The general told us before walking back into her small private room on the train.

My head turns back to its original position and I can't help but think about what I did to deserve this. I'm not going to be coming home. Luckily I'm not a pilot or part of the navy but I'm a marine, so I'm going to be learning how to use guns and tanks.

All I can think about is how much of an asshole Hitler is. He's making innocent people come to fight a war for him to stop killing innocent people. What a douche. Suddenly I feel a presence to my left, and I turn my head to see who it is.

"Hi, I'm Beth." She says, she looks to be about sixteen, she has short brown hair and pretty brown eyes. "Romeo." I say as I stick out my hand for her to shake, to which she does with a firm grip. "You nervous?" She asks me. "Not really, more pissed off than anything." I shrug. "Yeah I understand that. I'm nervous though. I have to come back and take care of my little brother." She frowns and looks down at her hands. "I'm sure he'll be okay with your mom." I place a hand on her shoulder to comfort her. "She's dead. He's alone right now. I hope he gets help from the neighbor. This war just needs to end so I can go home." She smiles a bit at me. "I hope so." I say before we both turn our heads in opposite directions, once again looking out the window.

Instead of trees though I see a huge gray building. "Woah..." I whisper to myself but Beth somehow hears me because she turns to look as well. "Wow.." she breathes out as well. I can only imagine how long I'll be staying here, a month, a week? Who knows at this point.

Eventually I'll be shipped out to my death along with my fellow soldiers, some may be lucky enough to make it home but most of us won't. Beth may have motivation, but not me. I don't have a needy family, for the most part they are wealthy. That was before the depression but we're in a better position than most of the population.

The screeching noice pulls me out of my thoughts and women scatter off the bus. "What's your last name?" Beth asks as she stands up, I do the same. "Davis." I quickly reply as I grab my one bag of belongings, that include a picture of my brother and I when we were kids, my old best friend, and my fathers own watch. "Oh great! Mines Danvers so we'll be bunking together!" She exclaims as she steps off the large bus' steps.

Once I'm on the ground I can truly get a picture of how massive the base is. I am quickly pulled out of my trance by a tall man with a megaphone. "Letters A through M to my right. N through Z to my left!" He repeats over and over again. Beth and I follow orders and go to his right where we are directed to our bunks.

A pair of clean clothes sit on each bed, waiting to be worn. A button up dark green shirt with matching pants, a belt and a hat. On the floor sits a pair of brown leather boots. I changed as quickly as possible and return to Beth.

We exit out building and go to the courtyard as instructed on the bus. There were about 300 people in the courtyard when we got there. Men, women, even children. The sight of the people made me ill. 90% of these people were going to die.

Beth could see the uncomfortableness on my face, she put a hand on my shoulder and we continued to walk.

"Men will go to my right and women will go to my left!" Another man shouted and pointed in two different directions. We followed orders and went to the medical ward of the base.

We waited for what seemed like hours. There were only 100 doctors but over 10,000 soldiers. "Davis, Romeo." A young women called out. She looked to be about my age. I stood and walked into her curtained office.

"Hello Ms. Davis. I will be doing your physical." She spoke to me when I sat down on her table. "Yes ma'am." I replied. She looked back and me and chuckled a bit before returning to her tools. "How old are you Ms.-" she began but I cut her off. "Romeo. Just Romeo." She nodded her head. "So, Romeo how old are you?" She asked once again. "Oh I'm 18. How old are you?" I asked but mentally face palmed.

She laughed a bit before pulling out her tool to check my ears. "Why do you want to know?" She challenged. "Oh I...I just..I don't know why I said that...I-I'm sorry." I stuttered like an idiot and put my head down.

She walked away from me to retrieve another tool to check my heart. The cold metal on my check made me flinch. "Sorry" she spoke as she placed her hand on my shoulder. My breath caught in my throat. I didn't realize how beautiful she was until this moment, when I truly got to look at her.

"Well it's working." She stated randomly. I looked quizzical at her before she chuckled. "Your heart...it works." She said before walking over to her garbage bin and taking her gloves off. "OH! Yeah well I'd hope so." I said sounding like an idiot.

"Eighteen." She stated after a moment of silence. "Hm..?" I asked her as I hopped off of her table. "I'm eighteen." She turned around and rearranged her tools. I smiled for a second before getting ready to leave.

"What's your name?" I asked before I officially stepped out. She looked over at me. "Doctor Beverly Miller. If you need medical assistance, don't be afraid to ask for me." She said with a wink before turning around once again.

I closed the curtain and smiled to myself. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all.

Alright! Sooooooo I finally have a new book out! I hopefully will be writing more often because of summer break! I hope you all enjoyed the first chapter of this book. For visuals I'm gonna tell you the actors that I imagined for each character
Romeo: Madison Beer
Beverly: Teresa Palmer
Beth: Ellen Page
SO YEAH HOPEFULLY YOU ENJOYED!!!